Dragonfire
by Danimuls
Summary: Dragonspyre. Everyone knows the world, you've all heard of it. It's a wreck, ravaged by war, destroyed. Where fresh blue water once flowed there is now nothing but magma. Do you know how that happened though? The whole entire story? Well I do. Because I was there. And it's partially my fault.
1. Chapter 1

~*~ Chapter 1 ~*~

SWISH! The wind whipped through my hair as we dove in for yet another sharp nose dive. The sun was beating down from the cloudless sky, causing beads of sweat to form across my brow. I couldn't be bothered with any of that though. The red tangles that slapped against my face were hardly noticeable when you were plunging at eighty miles per hour towards your death. Or... you know the rapidly flowing river below. The timing had to be perfect in order to avoid being flattened into a pancake; I needed to maximum turn around in order to effortlessly lead my partner into the liftoff.

My hands tightened around the reigns as we drew in closer and closer, and that's when we reached the point. With a strong and quick snap back of my wrists the Drake snapped its wings and we were soaring upwards at a faster rate than either of us thought possible. My heart was pounding rapidly against my chest from excitement, nothing, not a word could completely describe the joys of flying. The turns in your gut, the pressure of the wind against your face…. How completely disoriented a sharp turn could make you, how terrifying it was… but at the same time how completely _freeing_. Could you imagine the thrill of soaring over your world, to see everyone wandering below like ants?

I grinned cockily as I pulled on the reigns, bringing my day partner to a midair standstill in front of the classes cave. My teacher and fellow student's glares made me want to laugh. The fools, what, were they worried about me? All it took to pull off that stunt was some simple aerodynamics and natural born talent! As I took in their annoyed looks I quickly realized that not a single one had reached any level of being impressed.

'_Psh!'_, I thought to myself, '_The stuck up pricks…_ _with their leather helmets pulling up at their eyebrows… it was no wonder they looked displeased. Their brains were obviously being squeezed to tightly to function!'_

The flight instructor made an annoyed noise as I nudged my drake in for a flawless landing on the craggy, purple, cliff. Ignoring the continued daggers from my classmates I turned to my friend Kestrel as I moved to dismount. She at least looked _slightly_ amused, but nervous at the same time as her eyes flickered to the Dragonmaster. He looked like he was ready to kill…

"Miss. Dragonbane," Proffessor Silverdrake snapped, "Is it your one and only desire to meet an early death?!"

I eyed him coolly as I turned his words over in my mind; his eyes were narrowed underneath his goggles, which made him look extremely ridiculous due to the magnified glass.

"Well you see Professor," I began slowly, drawing out the words in an attempt to aggravate him even further, "since I am a necromancer and all… I consider myself already half way there."

Kestrel snickered into her hand, but was cut off by the flight instructors burning glare. After a moment of awkward silence and the shuffling of wings, he turned back to face me. It took everything in me to not childishly burst out into laughter over the goggle effect. I swear he resembled one of my little sister drawings…

"I don't need any sass from you Miss. Dragonbane, you may be the daughter of one of my good friends, and a General of our great army, but by no means does that give you the right to act like a suicidal imbecile, nor the privilege talk to me in such a way."

I bit back another snippy remark, and instead shifted my focus down to my gloved hands, "Yes sir." I muttered, hoping that the eye roll that went along with it wasn't noticeable.

Some of the fire school students snickered, and I shifted awkwardly. It was then that the teacher began to list the end of the day procedures. Having already known them I allowed my mind to shift yet again towards the unfair caste system that had developed over the ages. You see, Dragonspyre was truly a world based on stereotype. You were given as much respect as the school of magic you practiced and for me as a death student that was little to none at all. A long time ago, when our first king rode into battle on his drake, and defeated the dragon titans it became common knowledge that he was in the school of fire. This lead many of our people to believe that Pyromancy was the ultimate school of magic to practice. From an early age our people are raised into meeting the supposed requirements of the school, we're drilled with books, sold on Dragnospyran propaganda, and ushered into more competitive activities such as war games. Yet although this significantly helped to boost the percentage of fire students, and therefore the power of our military, they were not always successful.

Storm was the runner up, naturally. This was because of their more powerful attacks, and Ice followed shortly afterwards because of their defensive capabilities. Life was also highly valued, for the obvious reason that they are able to heal, so they were kept as medics in the cases of war times. Myth was good as well, but not used nearly as much as the others, they were well known for summoning their minions… but they had sort of become pointless after the one hundred year war ended all that time ago. And death? Well… heh, how do I put this exactly? We're not very popular. People fear us because they fear what we are capable of. We're basically the go to guys if there's ever a sickness, but that's only because they blame us. And although I can honestly say that I can agree with the fact that we do have some really bad people among our ranks, it isn't _all_ true.

In short, Dragonspyre had a really messed up system of government and society. It was all about building up our strength to crush our opponents, even though nobody bothered to make any direct attacks on us…. Sighing, I snapped myself out of my thoughts. Castamir was sending us home for the day, and although I was reluctant to head back to that warm and fuzzy home of mine, I remounted my drake, nudged its sides, and with a slight scratching of its claws leapt gracefully from the cliff to join Kestrel on the flight back.

"Nice work earlier today," she laughed in that posh Marleybone accent of hers, "the professor was absolutely _livid_."

"I couldn't help but notice," I laughed wryly as our Drakes soared through the rocky purple canyon, "although it was hard to take him seriously with those goggles of his."

"He looks like a bug." she agreed with another laugh

"That's one way of putting it I suppose." I nodded.

"Indeed! So, how do you think you did on the necromancy test this morning?" she asked with that ever chipper look on her face.

I rolled my eyes in mild annoyance, "How do you _think_ I did?"

"I don't know…" she laughed, "Let me guess… you aced it?"

"Naturally…." I bragged, "There wasn't a single question that I couldn't write a detailed paragraph on…."

Her smile faltered a bit before she covered it up with another grin, "Well that's good."

"Of course it is." I quipped, after a moment of pause I added on an awkward, "So how do you think you did?"

"Oh!" she grinned, "I mean… I think I did well enough, I'm not really used to your form of testing just yet…"

I felt my ego inflate just a little bit, "Well, that's understandable… we're a really driven academy, you know us, all about war and strategy."

"Yeah." She nodded, "I noticed… it's just, it's nothing like Krokotopia."

I frowned, "Well yeah, we aren't exactly drowning in sand…."

She laughed a bit, "No not in that way, what I mean to say is that it was a lot more laid back there."

"Oh." I said. The thing about Kestrel is that she was raised in Krokotopia because of diplomatic reasons. Her father was a long time ambassador from Marleybone, so naturally she was raised there so her family could be kept together. Due to the station she ended up joining the school of balance, since it was the closest school to the home that she loved. Once she mastered that though, it came time for her secondary school, and she ended up choosing Death because of the traps that went along with it. I always considered that a strange reason, but she thrived on supporting others. In all honesty I think she would have made a better life student…

"So, excellent job flying today! Although I can honestly say that it probably wasn't the safest thing for you to do…" she piped up after a few moments of awkward silence.

"Thanks," I smiled, absolutely beaming from the positive attention, "You too."

"Oh please," she laughed, "like you were actually paying attention to anyone but yourself."

Making a face, I redirected my attention forward.

"Not to call you self centered or anything-"

I laughed, "Kestrel, no need to stop being blunt now, I'm ridiculously self centered. Feel free to point it out whenever you please!"

"Hmm…" Kestrel nodded, "If you say so then…"

"Blame my childhood."

"Or I could blame you."

"Hey!"

"You said I could be blunt." She shrugs

Grumbling under my breath I refocused my attention towards landing. Which was easy enough, I couldn't help but feel a little upset at the loss of being airborne though. Leading my partner into the corner that she was assigned, I busied myself with removing her armor, which was a requirement to wear in flight. As it was an absentminded task, my brain began to absentmindedly go over the conversation Kestrel and I had just been through. She was right, I was partially to blame for my attitude, I didn't do well with losing, and I pushed most people away, but background had a lot to do with who you are, and considering the way I was raised well…. Just imagine being spoiled rotten, having everything in the world, all the opportunities imaginable in front of you, and then with a single test, having all of that wiped away. So now I studied a lot, I lived for knowledge, the ability to become more powerful, to push myself to the ultimate limit. I wanted to be approved of again, to be respected, not shunned….

I smiled to myself as I ran my hand down the Drakes snout, admiring the ruby and gold shades that adorned its scales. There was nothing that I loved more than flight… and these creatures. It's said that if the rider develops a close enough bond with them that they would speak to them, this also became possible with age… I wonder what they would say to me.

_Maybe I should just do this when I grow up_, I think, _At least I'd enjoy taking care of them._

My fathers disapproving face popped into my mind and I shook it off.

"Yeah… nevermind." Reaching for my pack that I had dumped in the corner of the cave I pulled out a chunk of raw ninja pig meat, just as I was about to hand it over to the Drake however Kestrel appeared.

"Eugh…" she grimaced, "You're actually feeding it?"

I smiled, "Yeah, I sniped it off of some myth student when they were practicing their out of arena magic…"

She gaped at me.  
"What?"

"You're ruthless."

I shrugged, "Well, I'm from Dragonspyre! It's what we live for!"

"So you've said…"

"Mmmhmm." I agreed as we walked out of the cave and down towards the academy…

The familiar awkward silence feel upon us as we walked past the after school practice groups, many of them were joining up for some extra swordfighting or-

"I'm dead awful at that class." Kestrel interrupted my train of thought as she nodded towards the out of arena practice team.

"It's not that hard."

"It takes to much energy out of you." She frowned.

"Well yeah, you're supposed to build up resistance over time, like flexing a muscle."

"But it's pointless!" she exclaimed as we continued on down the path and out of the academy doors. "You should just challenge people to duels, you don't have to send a, I don't know, fire dragon after a person!"

"That takes a lot out of a person." I frowned, "But the occasional quick use of a spell isn't that bad. It can come in handy."

"Oh…"

"Yeah, look Kestrel, I'm going to head off to the library now so I'll see you tomorrow okay?"

"Alright then Deirdre!" she smiled, although a bit confused at the quick change of subject. She knew that that was who I was though, I _lived_ for the library.

"See you soon." I smirked before turning and heading towards the portal, secretly relieved that I finally had gotten her out of my hair. I just couldn't wait to head off and read!

* * *

I walked in through the front doors of the library; the room was hushed in a deep silence as Milos worked to organize some knowledge crystals from behind the desk. Grinning, I came to a stop in front of the reception area, and cleared my throat.

He looked up, his eyes brightening at the sight of my face, "Ah Deirdre!" he whispered "What a surprise!"

I laughed , "It's hardly a surprise I'd assume Milos, what with me coming in here everyday since my first year at the Academy…"

He smiled, "And for some time before then to Miss. Dragonbane."

"So is there anything I can do to help?," I asked after he questioned me on my day at school.

"Not much," he admitted after a moments thought, "As always you can organize some of the books that were left out on the tables, but then the library is yours!"

"Alright then Mr. Bookwyrm," I said before heading off to tidy up. Library time was the best, so I spent as much time as I could here, it was the one place where I truly felt like I could relax and that no one would judge me. Milos had been around for as long as I could remember, always suggesting new books for me to read, and different topics to study. On slow days when I was little he used to read to me, tales about the titans and far away places. One of his favorites was a story about pirates, and I had to admit that it captivated me as well. The idea of being able to roam the spiral, to live every day freely, to not be stuck in the same old dull routine, that was something that entranced me. Dragonspyre was fixed on schedules, it felt tight and restrained, like it trapped you. It was probably why I took to flying so much…

Once I was finished with the sorting I headed to the back of the library, my fingers running along the spines of the books until I reached something of interest, a book on strategy. I was obsessed with becoming powerful, I just wanted to prove that death wasn't as useless as everyone else seemed to think. Especially if what father had been hinting at was true, we would soon need as much man power as we could get. Sitting down in my favorite chair I pulled the book and began to read. My brain running through the words as I focused on committing the multiple strategies to memory. It wasn't long before I became lost in the book, which was very interesting just so you know. It talked about everything, all the different battle scenarios, all the different uses for traps, non magical combat… With final practical exams coming up next week I'd need to be as prepared as possible-

_Scritch scritch scritch_

I jolted out of my book reading trance, what on earth was- I glanced around the library. It was empty. Dammit. Rising from my chair I put the book back on it's shelf. And head towards the front door, it was time to lock up, put the protective spells up around the building…

_Scritch scritch scritch_

I freeze. There was that noise again… what on earth… I couldn't be just imagining it! Summoning my sword into my hand I unlock the door and charge outside, slamming the door behind me. With a couple of clicks it locked and from the faint glow around it, I knew that it projected the invisible shield designed to defend it.

But… what was that noise? I stopped my breathing and listened. There was nothing. Just the rustling of the wind through the trees, the sound of the stream trickling nearby.

_Everything should be fine _I decided after a couple of moments, I didn't hear a thing, no footsteps rustling in the grass. It was safe…. But… what if it wasn't? And it was with that idea in my mind that I teleported home. I had a plan…

* * *

**A/N Okay then… well… it's good to be back in the fandom again! Hi! My name's Emily and I'm actually really excited about this story! I used to write for this fandom, but I changed accounts due to a long period of absence. Anyways! I had the idea a couple of years ago with my friend Emma, but since I stopped playing for awhile I kind of lost interest. But now it's back! So yay! Anyways I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! I intend to hit the ground running with this story, so expect it to seriously begin to speed up in the next chapter! I'm sticking close to canon, but am adding in a few of my own ideas because it makes things fun! ^_^ so leave a review, and I am excepting OC's to appear during different times… so yeah! No major characters, but if you want to make a baddie go ahead!**


	2. Chapter 2

~*~ Chapter 2 ~*~

I flipped through my treasure cards, analyzing each one for their potential. My mind cleared through each one as I began to compose a list. Tower shields. Yeah that would be all I'd need, see, wasn't that simple? Scoffing, I slipped them into my belt pocket, I'd keep them there for special use and then-

I glanced down at my actual spell deck, death and fire spells were spread in my hands as I began to think of the most efficient one to use in the case of emergency, which would strike the most fear into an enemy…?

Well… in the terms of out of arena magic that would be the fire spells, because they could do some serious damage. There was also the whole idea of posturing that I had to live up to. Dragonspyre projected a very specific image: that we were a nation of pyromaniacs. I couldn't just charge into a fight without staying true to my world! Even though I disagreed on certain ideals…

With an eye roll I put my deck away, shoving the Phoenix card next to the tower shields. If what my father had to say was true then I wouldn't be going up against a wizard, not like he actually knew what I was about to do. Which was remarkable considering how potentially dimwitted it was, but I wanted to be noticed, respected. I just wanted people to stop scoffing at me whenever I walked past, and for my father to actually give me the time of day. In a more positive way. On that note I grabbed my sword and dagger off of their respective stands and slipped out of my bedroom door and into the massive hallway that connected the sleeping quarters to the rest of the house.

Tiptoeing I began to move down past my parents and sibling's bedrooms, each of their doors were shut. Relieved that everyone had stuck to their usual schedules, I continued onwards.

Passing the arched windows that looked out over the back courtyard. That was where all of the Drakes slept, in the caves that my ancestors had carved into the mountains. Frowning I turned away from the view, as I began to go over the discussion that had happened that night at dinner…

* * *

I stared blankly at the grandfather clock as my family went about the usual discussions. Work, happenings at the academy, what little Alura had occupied her day with. I could honestly care less, I was to busy focusing on the time. Five past six, the library was closed. The intruder would enter sometime shortly past ten, since Milos stayed two hours late on Fridays….

I tried to distract myself, focusing intently on patterns of vines and leaves that danced across the wood. The nearly perfected polish. It was a very important heirloom on my mother's side of the family, even more important now that communications had been for the most part cut off. There had been no association with any of my Marleybone relatives for ages… although we mostly blamed mum and her busy schedule. She worked as a manger down in the crystal mines, overseeing production costs and managing trade with the other worlds in the spiral. It was a very important position considering the fact that the multicolored gems were the driving force of our economy….

"So how was work today dear?" my mother piped up, her accent soft and steady, "Anything interesting happen?"

My attention was piqued. This was the part that I had been most interested in hearing, although father never really dropped information about his job, he'd occasionally drop in a shred or two of important information.

He rubbed his temples with his rough calloused hands. Clearly there wasn't going to be any good news… which was perfect. Especially considering the fact that I had no idea of what I was getting myself into by sneaking out to the library this evening. Hopefully there would be something good, something that I could deal with, and not just a figment of my imagination….

"Marleybone," he grunted, "Is becoming a thorn in my side…"

My mother cocked her head in interest, "In what way?"

"You know how the pirate attacks have been getting worse, dear. They're attacking every ship they see, any ship that they can fire at, they attack. They steal, and destroy, as is their nature."

"What in the spiral does this have to do with Marleybone?" my mother asked, her voice wry.

"The attacks, are focused for the most part on their ships. And they believe that we are behind it."

My mother recoiled, her face set in a look of shock and anger, "Why would they think that?!" she nearly screeched, "That's absolute rubbish!"

The draconian servant looked up with an unsettled look in their eye, "Calm yoursssself misss, no need to upsssssset yourssssself."

She shot a glare at the Draconian who looked away in shame, "Don't tell me to calm down you imbecile!" she hissed.

"Yessssss missss." The Draconian muttered, before turning back towards the kitchen.

Once he had made his leave my father addressed her question, "Don't fret my dear, it's not the shipping business that they blame, but rather Dragonspyre's government."

"Whatever do you mean by that?" she asked sharply.

"They think that we're behind the pirate's attacks, since we have the means to fund them…" He said, pausing to allow his words to sink in, "They believe that we are out to start a war, Patrice."

_Ooh they're smart. Like our desperate militarism wasn't suspicious at all._

"Just because they believe it to be us does make it true." My mother responded heatedly.

"Of course it's not true dear." My father replied, "But that does not reduce the threat that they pose."

"What threat father?" My elder sister spoke up, her voice light and cheerful despite her heavy Dragonspyran accent, "Nothing can possibly pose a threat to us, Dragonspyre is a strong world, we're undefeatable!" she crowed, her brown eyes twinkling with glee.

"Genevra, just because we stopped the fire titan does not make us unstoppable." My father commented snippily, "However, those Marleybone dogs will be no problem for us in the long run. We are superior in the art of war, after all."

She sat back down in her seat, brushing back her dark blonde hair behind her shoulder. "Of course father, I'm sorry to have spoken out of turn."

"Don't fret my dear, I cannot criticize you for your passion, a sense of nationalism is always healthy in conversations such as this." He smiled warmly and she nodded.

Rolling my eyes I went back to pushing the food around on my plate.

"I shouldn't be telling any of you this anyways, nothing is set in stone after all." He sighed, before taking a sip from his goblet, "It's just so stressful to maintain at work…"

"I understand dear." My mother replied.

The certain stiff silence developed around the table as my father glanced back at the clock. It was now twenty minutes past six. Why did dinners have to pass by so slowly? A couple more minutes past as everyone continued to tend to their food, I was organizing my spinach into a wonderful display of some sort of bird. Or maybe it was a book. I couldn't really tell.

"So have you heard from your sisters?" he asked my mother, "It's been a while since we've last had a visit."

"Considering current circumstances I wouldn't consider it wise." My mother replied stiffly.

"That information is not to be made public do you understand me?"

"I know dear…." She said, before glancing back Alura and Genevra, the youngest of which was busy picking her nose. My mother cleared her throat, and she pulled her finger out. "That's not very lady like Alura darling…"

"Sorry mum."

She nodded before turning back to Genevra, "So darling, how was school today? I know you must be ecstatic for graduation…."

She beamed, "Oh definitely mum! Desperice is ready to fly, she's mature now, and we'll soon be ready to fly off in the ceremony next week."

"That's wonderful darling!" my mother crooned, "Your father and I are both very proud of you!"

"Well you should be," she replied, before shooting me a look, "i'm not a troublemaker like _Deirdre_…."

My parent's attention switched to me for the first time that evening, like bloodhounds in search of their prey.

"What did you do _this_ time." My father glared, his eyes narrowing in disappointment. I glared back defiantly, fighting back against the nerves.

"Nothing bad." I snipped.

"That's not what Professor Silverdrake said," Genevra said, "He told me that you were completely reckless yesterday, flying dangerous stunts just for the fun of it."

My father glared, "You did what?"

"Nothing different then what you guys used to do with me when I was younger!" I defended quickly

My mother gave me a sympathetic look.

"A suicidal dive isn't considered a stunt." Genevra scoffed, "It's considered completely reckless."

My temper flickered, "I'd like to see you try and pull something like that off you coward." I muttered darkly.

She scoffed and I turned back to my plate, shoving a forkful of food into my mouth. Desperate to avoid further conflict.

"I'm not a coward, unlike you necromancers we actually _fight_."

My grip tightened around the fork, I wasn't going to snap. "Unlike pyromancers we are a _support school_, and not only that, but a spirit school. We aren't meant to have overpowered attacks, we have multiple traps and blades, and are, just for your information, designed to last in a duel by stealing the health of our enemies to replenish our own."

"You can't heal from an attack if we wipe you out in one hit." My sister snapped, "Stop trying to defend yourself, you aren't a noble school, you're a school of cheats and plague bringers."

"And your mouth is a bringer of _plaque_, so I would very much appreciate it if you'd shut it and go back to your dinner. Because as much as I _enjoy_ spinach, I don't like the looks of it filling in the cracks of your teeth. Especially considering that most of it's been there since last week."

My sister's jaw dropped as I rose from my seat at the table. "Close it." I snipped, before turning and heading towards the door.

"Where are you going?!" my father snapped as my hand rested on the doorknob.

I fancied the idea that they were shell shocked by my wit before turning around and adding smugly, "Oh you know daddy dearest, despite all of my best efforts I really do have a queasy stomach when it comes to eating, even though I spend my days around rotting flesh I really have a thing for personal hygiene." I smiled cheekily before slamming the door behind me.

"The bloody imbeciles…" I muttered before heading off towards my room. I knew that they wouldn't bother following me, but at least I had avoided that conflict... for the most part. I knew that this would come back to bite me….

* * *

I turned the key in the front door, having already removed the protective bubble. It was half past eleven, about the same time that I had been in the library last night. The enemy should be here soon… and I had an idea of who it would be. A Marleybone agent, a 'merchant' who had infiltrated past the barriers desperate for information.

I scoffed, _Well wouldn't they be in for a surprise…._

I closed the door behind me, locking it tightly and headed for the back of the library. If the criminal had done his homework then he'd know about the back door. It was there in the case of a fire related incident, which there were many of considering that we were a world of pyromaniacs… and people were getting dumped all the time. Ooh the fights that have happened, the whole library was covered with scorch marks. Smiling I perched myself in my favorite chair and began to read.

For the longest time there wasn't a sound, just the steady ticking of the clock. A half hour passed, and then another hour… I began to worry, surely enough time had passed for them to begin a break in. The shields were down, all they had to do was-

_Scritch scritch scritch_

I froze.

_Scritch scritch scritch_

That sounds there it was again- and that's when I placed it. It was the sound of a lock being picked. The back doors lock. My heart began to pound I had to move quickly and softly, putting my strategy book down I rose silently from my seat, and tiptoed down the stairs.

SCRITCH SCRITCH SCRITCH

The sound was growing louder, just like the blood that was beginning to rush to my head.

SCRITCH SCRITCH CLICK

It was at this point that I seriously began to regret my decision. With a trembling hand I pulled the dagger from my sheath. With one last quick prayer to the fire titan the door swung open and I poised myself for attack.

The heavy booted footsteps padded against the stone floor as they made their way down the hall, I glanced up at the statue at the center of the library. _Oh please have heard me…. _I whispered.

They were dangerously close now, I could hear their breathing, heaving loudly against the silence. This was my last chance. I jumped out from behind the shelf-

And a sword slapped down against my neck.

My breathing stopped as I felt the cold metal dig into the sensitive skin. My eyes flicked upwards to meet the enemy.

It was a boy. A human. And he didn't look a thing like a spy.

"Why hello there sugar cakes." I mocked dryly, "Care for a cup 'o tea?"

* * *

**A/N Eh hehe… *pukes blood everywhere* Well that escalated quickly! XD Just wait until you see the next chapter! It's epic. And awesome. And it gets the whole story off the ground. This stuff gets intense 8} (does that look demonic? I really hope that looks demonic….) **

**Also! Thank you for your reviews! **

**Hello-Chocolate, Secretismine4ever, FriendlyPsycho, and newdog14! I'd also like to thank the anonymous guest and Angel Queen of Emeralds for your support :D especially Emma because she helped me get to level 50 again :] thanks buddy! **

**If you like the story please review it, it'll mean the world to me! :D Just a few quick words, I'm not going to bite XD Besides, more reviews mean quicker updates, although I intend to update regularly now that my sister's surgery has been finished and I no longer have to worry my flipping butt off. I'm happy you're better sissy! :D **


	3. Chapter 3

~*~ Chapter 3 ~*~

The boy's eyes narrowed into a more menacing glare.

"I'm stuffed actually." he muttered, his accent was loose and casual, but horribly unfamiliar.

I raised an eyebrow as I considered him, speaking after a moment of pause, "You're a spy, an infiltrator." My voice was snide, "You work for Marleybone."

He chuckled darkly, "Hardly…"

My eyes flickered to the blade that was pressed against my neck, struggling to keep calm I redirected my gaze back to his, "Well what are you then?" I asked, desperate for a glimmer of information. Anything that would help me out of this mess. "A spy? You're hardly a traitor, your accent isn't from around here…"

I swore I could see him grin under the half mask, "I'm neither a spy nor traitor, I remain just as loyal to my world as you do yours I'm sure…" he nudged the blade harder against my skin, before hissing in a tone of disgust, "and in case you couldn't already tell girly, my accent isn't nearly as stuffy as those foul breathed dogs!"

Something clicked in the back of my mind as I looked over his ensemble, the sword, and the gun belt that rested against his hip, the loose black shirt and darker leather pants, the worn, rugged, old boots…

"You're a pirate!" I snapped.

"And you're a wizard!" He cooed, "Oh look now we're getting somewhere~!"

A swallowed hard against the cold steel, struggling to keep the cool façade going, despite the rapidly growing fear. Pirates were a thing apart from the typical non magic user, they were skilled and agile, crafty and brilliant, and if a pirate decided it right to kill you then they would, without hesitation. Because they _never _followed the rules, it was just their way of life.

"Well some fearsome pirate you are," I smiled demurely, "What with those tight little leather pants I would have assumed something different of you."

"Heh," he laughed mockingly, "I'll show you fearsome if you want to push me _wizard, _don't think for a second that I'm one to hesitate_. _Need I remind you that with one little flick of my wrist your blood could be all over this floor?"

"No," I grinned, "But should I point out that yours will be as well?"

"What do you mean by tha-"

I dug the knife blade into his stomach, "I'm from Dragonspyre…" I hissed, "We _always_ have a backup plan."

His eyes widened in shock before flickering down to his waist.

That gave me the perfect time to launch my attack.

I snapped my wrist summoning my sword, and with one quick, hard, swing, his own was sent clattering across the floor.

"A backup plan like that to be more precise…." My head shifted to the side cockily, "Oh pirate laddy~!"

He smirked as I pressed the cool blade against his neck, it shivered within an aura of ice energy, "You know… you did seem awfully comfortable with my sword against your neck…"

I scoffed, "I was never in any danger in the first place, I prepared for what was coming-"

"And I knew you would be here."

"Well then looks who's the better planner?"

I saw his wrist flick quickly to his belt, and dove behind the bookshelf just before a single blast was fired from the handgun.

"I do believe I won that competition." His voice sneered from behind the bookshelf as I frantically grabbed a tower shield and cast it around myself.

"Afraid to take another step out from behind that bookshelf, oh great and all powerful wizard?" he crooned? "Afraid of getting your arse handed to you on a silver platter by a mere commoner?"

I felt the familiar thrill seeking vibe kick in at his words, the desperate desire to attack, the indescribable thrill of a challenge! The rapid pounding of my heart was no longer due to fear, but from the exhilaration of what lay ahead of me! A proper fight!

I smirked into the darkness, "It's not like you stand a chance anyways mister proper tights. I'm a wizard after all, I can FRY you like TOAST!"

There was a long pause. "You… fry toast?"

"Ahh, so easily distracted."

I heard the clicks of the weapon being returned to firing position. "Just let me take what I need and no one gets hurt."

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that," I murmured slowly as I stepped from behind the bookshelf, my sword poised, "You see, this library is very important to me."

He fired without hesitation, but instead of the bullet striking me, it dissolved into the invisible aura that surrounded me.

"By all means keep on firing," the boy's eyes were wide in surprise, "Go ahead! Waste your ammunition! But just so you know, its projecting an invisible aura around my entire form, no matter where you shoot it isn't going to hit."

A spark of anger flared in his eyes before he fired. Again, and again and again. Each blast multiplying the echoes of the silent library, but the shield remained strong.

"Five rounds," I mused, "and that's a small gun. A well-educated opponent would assume that you've got nothing left to fire... shame really, I could let you reload but if I did that you'd just go ahead and waste the rest of your hard earned gold."

"Cheap wizard," he spat, as I waved the shield away.

"Cheap?" I laughed, "I'm trying to _help_ you, no need to go wasting your money."

His eyes narrowed.

"There's a reason why I'm not worried about you, you know." I jibed, taking a step forwards.

"And whys that?" I could hear the anger building in his voice

"Because you mortals on the outside, you don't know a thing about the practice of real magic. You're nothing but _monkeys_."

"…you know you have a real superiority problem…."

"And you have a real fashion problem."

"Well what do you know about fashion?!"

"More than you obviously…"

"You're wearing _armor_ in the library!" he exclaimed, gesturing at the ensemble that I had hastily put together before heading out.

I looked down at myself, my mind blanking in humiliation. It was exactly location appropriate, but this wasn't exactly a casual excursion…

He laughed.

"What's your name then?" I snapped, desperate to change the subject, "O Fearsome Pirate Flaming Steel?!"

"No!" he snapped back, "And what are you inferring with that statement?! That i'm-"

"A homosexual homosapien? Yes indeed I am good sir, yes indeed!"

His eyes narrowed as they flicked to his sword on the ground.

"By all means pick it up," I sighed, "Then we can settle this like proper humans, gay or otherwise."

"I'm not gay…" he muttered before picking up his sword.

"Well neither am I! Look we've got something in common!"

"I'd rather not think about the similarities that I share with my enemies…"

"Oh come on leather pant man, you're the one who started this whole issue in the first place-"

"And you're the one who went looking for a fight!" he replied back quickly, poising his sword into a matching position to mine.

We began to circle each other.

"I thought you were a Marleybonian spy."

"Oh really?" he raised an eyebrow teasingly, "And why would you go chasing after a highly trained military agent?"

"What?" he asked, "I'm just curious, you can't be any older then thirteen…"

"I'm fourteen!" I snapped.

"Right, big difference! I'm fifteen and I still don't stand a chance against them, or the Armada for that matter…."

"Your loss," I scoffed, "you aren't a wizard."

He laughed, rubbing his thumb across the hilt of his blade, as if gauging what would be the right time to charge forward.

"You know they aren't even targeting Dragonspyre as a military target right?"

I was stunned, "They… aren't?"

"Nope." And with that he lunged forward, bringing his blade down against my own with a hard clang.

"Quick block girly." He laughed before parrying forward.

I leapt back quickly, before meeting his blade with my own.

_The low bastard_, I thought with a hiss, _he knew what he was doing, disarming me with casual conversation before throwing me off guard and attacking. _

There was no denying it was a smooth move, sneakier then I would have expected from him, but maybe that was all part of his own façade… play dumb and wait to strike. But if he wasn't from Marleybone, and they weren't planning a direct military assault, then what on earth was going on here-

I grit my teeth as our swords clanged together once again. His swings were strong, that much could not be denied, and considering that I was not terribly gifted at swordplay, that was not a good sign.

But this was a test. Something that I could use to test my abilities, to prove myself, to grow stronger. It was a challenge that I could not let pass me by. Even if I had failed the elective spectacularly.

The swords met again, this time my own weapon almost went flying.

"What is this an act?!" he scoffs

"A diversion!" I snipped, before blasting a ball of fire directly at his face.

He dodged quickly and I took a couple of quick steps back.

"That's low…" he hissed

"I figure its fair seeing as you're the thief here."

There was another clang, "What are you trying to steal anyways?"

"Magic. Spellbooks. I'm here to help the witch doctors."

He lunged forward I parried, I was desperate to get this match over with, the ache in my arms were growing even stronger, but I refused to back down from the fight. Despite being pitifully outmatched….

"Witch doctors," I grunted pushing against the blade with as much force as I could muster, forcing him backwards, "by that you mean "fake" wizards right?"

"They're a class of pirate."

"They practice hoodoo. There's absolutely no structure to it at all."

He swung forward as I leapt backwards onto the stairs.

"Just let me beat you!"

My arms were burning now as I moved backwards up the stairs, all the parrying and dodging was exhausting…

"It seems that you don't understand what I'm saying-"

"I understand exactly what you're saying and it's not important!"

I rolled my eyes as we reached the top floor, the utter dimwit…

"Stealing the magic isn't going to help!"

"Of course it is!"

"You're an idiot Flaming Steel…."

"And you're a weakling Girl With The Snobby Attitude!" and with one powerful blow my sword was sent flying into the table.

"A weakling huh?" I heaved, desperate for some air

"Yes, definitely a weakling…" he smirked

I grinned, wiping the sweat from my brow with the back of my arm, "Well you're a disgusting pirate who never takes a bath!"

I swooshed my arm downwards, and focused, pouring as much energy as I could manage into the attack. My stomach lurched as the temperature began to spike, every last pore of my body felt like it was on fire and then with one final wave of pressure it exploded into reality. Soaring out of the rune and directly at the thief's face.

It was a phoenix, and as it was a rank five fire spell it took a lot of energy to conjure and control. Yet it was what I'd need to intimidate him, and despite the rapidly draining energy I allowed myself to smile as I watched him sprint between the library's shelves.

The very same shelves that were currently going up in flames.

Cursing I dispelled the attack, and leapt up onto the table. Racing quickly across the dark wooded surface before leaping onto the boys back, and pining his arms against his sides.

"You're such a cheat!" he grunted as I struggled to maintain control. He was exceptionally strong. Go figure.

"That's rich coming from a pirate!" I hissed as I fought against the black lights that were beginning to cloud my vision...

"Just because I'm a pirate doesn't make me rich-"

"I never said it did!" I sniffed

"- but it does mean that I have some special skills!"

And with that he jolted his shoulder upwards, loosening my grip, before his feet dropped out from beneath him and I was slammed backwards into the floor.

I squeaked as I felt my left shoulder get popped out of place. I wanted to scream, to throw up, but the fight wasn't going to end like this. I wasn't going to let it-

He rose swiftly from the ground, a smug smirk painted across his face.

I most definitely wasn't going to let that arrogant prick win.

With the last force of my energy I spun around on the ground twisting my foot to hook around his ankles and pull him to the floor with a loud thud. I jumped up as quickly as I could, my breath heaving in my chest as I pulled my own sword from the ground and took off down the halls, I needed to reach the lever, it would douse the room with an icy mist-

I heard the footsteps and spun into a weak block.

"You're wearing out…" The thief laughed, "It's so obvious, you've got little to no stamina…."

I felt my anger build up at his words, my eyes narrowing into a glare. He was just like my father…

I charged, but he just stepped aside smoothly and disarmed me with a quick downward stroke.

"Oh come now… do you really think I didn't notice? You with your big ego and all I would assume that it was obvious… you exhausted yourself with that phoenix, I bet your seeing double right now." He leaned back against the shelf, "And…" he grinned, "to top it all off I bet fire isn't really your primary school of magic either, now is it? Your main school is death."

"How did you-"

"Please," he scoffed, "I'm not an idiot, and not everything you wizards do is a complete mystery, I can read."

"Where are you from..?"

"Avalon." He smirked.

"Heh. Makes sense…" I winced as I struggled against the growing desire to faint. "Book wormy world it is, always encouraging the education of the common folk…"

He shook his head, "You wizard types are so full of yourself. So power hungry and desperate to destroy, that's why I became a pirate."

"You chose to be a pirate?" I scoffed, "Why in the spiral would you choose to do such a stupid thing?"

"Oh come now Necromancer, surely there must be something in your society that bothers you hmm?" he tilted his head and smiled demurely "Let us not forget the little talk we had earlier shall we? Hmm?" He tilted my chin upwards with the point of my sword, "Just let me get away…."

I considered him with about as much coherency as a semi retarded garden worm, the dizziness, the pain, and the smoke made it impossible to function….

The world began to fade in and out of black…

"I promise…." His teasing voice began to drift away… "I'll cut you a deal…"

* * *

**A/N**

**Heheheheh... not so sure how this went. I'm absolutely awful at action scenes. And just so you know, yeah, I guess this could be considered a crossover, but considering that most of the action happens in the wizard parts of the spiral, and with maybe a few chapters involving the pirate parts? I kind of voted against it. Besides, they're both in the same bloody universe anyways so what does it matter? O_o The Spirals the Spiral and that's that. I'll try to regularly update my chapters from this point out, been a hectic few weeks! Not saying that school wont be any less hectic... but at least I can write chapters in classes then! OwO**

**So if you liked it please review, please! They mean the world to me~ I make retarded animal noises, like an excited elephant! Or giraffe! What noise does a giraffe make anyways... well internet you exist for a reason, this must be it... OuO/ buh byeee!**


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